


Beautifully Broken

by Krethes



Series: Reflections of Affection [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Boys Being Boys, But it's fine it's fine, But not Toxic, Day At The Beach, Fluff, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Sirius is a little bit creepy, Sirius loves the way Remus looks, Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29222700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krethes/pseuds/Krethes
Summary: He knew Remus thought himself ugly and broken, but Sirius believed that being broken was what made him beautiful. It's a short little story about the things Sirius finds most beautiful about Remus.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Reflections of Affection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2145600
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Beautifully Broken

**Author's Note:**

> My tenses are all over the place, a terrible, awful habit, but here's Sirius being a little qtpie admiring his favorite boy. :D

He was beautiful in a broken way, Sirius considered as he and the rest of the Marauders enjoyed a hot summer's day on the beach next to Remus's parents' house. It was one of the rare occasions when he was allowed friends over. Remus's parents were always so nervous that _something_ would happen, or _someone_ would find out about their son. He and James and Peter all swore up and down that they _knew_ and loved Remus for it anyway. As if a little thing like lycanthropy could keep the Marauders apart, ha! 

  
  


His beauty particularly shone in the summer when his skin turned nut-brown from the sun, causing his silvered scars to stand out even more, a highway system across his flesh that spoke leagues of his adventures and misfortunes. James and Peter were not-so-secretly jealous of Remus's ability to tan without effort, they who could only burn and freckle later; Sirius liked it. It matched the gold of his eyes in a companionship unlike any other and removed years of premature age from his sixteen-year-old body simply by warming his skin tone.

  
  


Remus was still impossibly skinny though, and his growth spurt last May had sent him shooting up to six feet tall (making him the tallest by at least a head, the lanky prat), all tan skin, sinewy muscle, and jutting bone. Sirius supposed "the wolf" didn't want its host getting fat, to put on pounds that would reduce its ability to wreak havoc each month. It wanted to remain a lean, mean, killing machine so long as it had a say in Remus's metabolism. His weight certainly wasn't for lack of trying—something that Peter sure envied, Sirius had noticed on more than one occasion. He'd seen their friend devour plate after plate of food on a regular basis, consuming thousands of calories that were all promptly burned off on the rising of the full moon. But Sirius liked him skinny, could not imagine him any other way.

  
  


But there was strength in him yet, Sirius knew even as he watched him lose an impromptu wrestling match in the sand with James that sent both of them, laughing, out into the surf. Sirius knew that when the moon was filling up, so did Remus's strength (and temper) and one would be wise to stay in his good graces. Sirius did not quite manage to do so one month (okay, he had " _ deliberately and knowingly provoked him to test his limits,"  _ Remus had said later ) and ended up pushed against a wall (which was thrilling at first) and getting the tar beaten out of him by a young man with animal strength (not thrilling, absolutely awful). He'd lived, of course, and healed, and grew to respect both man and beast more for it.

  
  


On normal days like this in the middle of the lunar cycle, Sirius was aware that Remus was still holding back because as Remus grew, so did the wolf and its power in him. There was a lot more to this werewolf stuff than their prejudiced textbooks taught them.

  
  


He knew Remus thought his face was too ugly to be handsome, but Sirius disagreed. It wasn't conventional. It was full of sharp angles and fleeting shadows and your eye didn't really know where to rest until he opened those big, amber-gold eyes framed by fluffy, almost-blonde eyelashes. It was an interesting face molded by years of agony and countless transformations and yet still managed to have faint laugh lines around his mouth (Sirius took full credit for that). His face kept your attention and was constantly changing, much like the sea, with each phase of the moon.

His hands were perhaps Sirius's favorite though, as he watched them grab Peter's arm (James had the other) and toss him, previously dry, into the ocean with ease. They were just as scarred-up as the rest of him, but Sirius still found himself fascinated. He caught himself watching Remus write in class, his long fingers wrapped lovingly around his favorite quill as he quickly but effortlessly jotted down notes, the ink scrawl beautiful and elegant despite the speed with which they were created. He could stare at his wrists for hours, how the tiny bones jutted out, barely concealed by his skin, how each knuckle was prominent but not grotesque. They were an artist's hands, not great mits meant for the fighting and rough handling they were routinely put through.

  
  


His hair was beautiful, too, all sandy curls that were long in the fashion of boys for their day. The gentle curls caressed his thin shoulders when dry but now, soaking wet and covered in salt, clung to his face and neck in a possessive grip Sirius envied. What he wouldn't give to lick the sea salt from his throat or brush it aside with his fingers to watch the pulse quicken under his skin as he did so.

  
  


Sirius was startled from his thoughts when James chucked a beachball at his chest. It struck him squarely and bounced off, leaving a faint red mark on the previously unmarred skin. So rude. "Are you just going to leer at us all day while we swim, you prat, or are Blacks afraid of getting their perfectly coifed hair wet?" he teased, and suddenly all three of them were upon him but, as usual, Sirius could only focus on Remus.

  
  


The muscles in Remus's chest rippled below his skin as the trio pulled Sirius to his feet. He was slung unceremoniously over Remus's shoulder, eyes directed at his ass, his perfect, perfect ass…and then he was underwater, seafoam above him and sand below. When he surfaced, he found himself face-to-face with a smirking Remus (a rare sight, surely, as the young werewolf was _not_ a smirker by nature) who had his arms crossed over his dripping chest. 

"You've been staring at me all afternoon," he stated, not a question. One eyebrow was slightly raised as if to challenge Sirius to deny his claim.

"Yes." The water droplets sliding down Remus's pectoral muscles found a scar groove that fast-tracked them to his navel where they clung to coarse hair and Sirius was glad for the seafoam and dark water.

Remus paused and swallowed and Sirius took the opportunity to admire his adam's apple bobbing in his throat and snuck a glance at his sloping jawline before he was redirected to Remus's eyes by an impatient clearing of his throat, but no words came.

"Are you asking me to stop?" Sirius asked suddenly, brazenly, his own challenge clear in his eyes, steel grey to Remus's copper-gold.

He scoffed, rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't _dream_ of ruining your fun, Padfoot. But _do_ try to blink every so often or someone will suspect we're up to something." It was very clear that Remus knew what was being "suspected" but he did not show evidence of caring and with that, he swam off like a fish. Sirius pouted and pursued at an admittedly slower pace to join his mates deeper out in the surf where they were riding waves and laughing as they were pushed under, simply enjoying the company of his best friends and the boy he was hopelessly in love with, sneaking glances when he could and happy to be around him when he couldn't.

Summers at Remus's were the best.


End file.
